Please Help Me Figure Out These Results

[Laura--G]

Hey everyone! I have 2 sons. One is a type 1 Diabetic and tested positive for Celiac and he's having his biopsy tomorrow. I decided to have the other one tested this week. His doctor isn't familiar with Celiac so she couldn't really help me with the test results but is having a GI speicialist call me....I can't wait that long so I'm here hehe. She did a Celiac panel with 5 blood tests. 4 came back negative but the IGG (is that rigjt???) came back strong positive. So, my question is does he have Celiac or not...what else could a positive IGG mean? Thanks for any help you guys may have!

[slpinsd]

I would say that he is definitely gluten sensitive. Other markers like tTg and IgA are more specific for Celiac, but you can have celiac and have only an elevated IgG. Since one of your sons has Celiac, it is likely that the other has the genes for it, as well. I would put him on a gluten-free diet and see the positive changes. Even if he is not Celiac at this point, with a positive genetic makeup, he could develop Celiac if he continues to eat gluten. Your son could even have a positive biopsy, and still have Celiac, because damage can be missed in early stages, and also the damage could be spotty and be missed. A negative blood test or biopsy doesn't rule out Celiac, but a positive biopsy rules it in.

It is also possible that he is IgA deficient, in that case, it would skew the results of the other tests.

[Guest Robbin]

Laura, I have 2 sons and one is a type 1 diabetic also. I am wondering if the diabetes may cause an IgA deficiency? It sure affects so many other things. I am glad you are able to convince him to be tested. (mine is 21 and won't listen to me) Maybe yours are very young or at least reasonable(!) Keep us posted on how you are all doing.

[Laura--G]

  Robbin said:

Laura, I have 2 sons and one is a type 1 diabetic also. I am wondering if the diabetes may cause an IgA deficiency? It sure affects so many other things. I am glad you are able to convince him to be tested. (mine is 21 and won't listen to me) Maybe yours are very young or at least reasonable(!) Keep us posted on how you are all doing.

My son is only 5 and he had no idea he was going in to be tested. I figured it was easier to just take him in and spring it on him instead of letting him make that decision. Unfortunately, my kids are also allergic to peanuts and fish and milk so our menu will be very limited with Celiac now. Thanks for the replies, I guess it doesn't matter if he definitely has it or not. I don't have time to make 2 meals for dinner so we are all going gluten-free I think.

[heli]

IgG positive really is not specific enough. What you want to know is, "which antibodies were positive?" The panel should have included tissue trasnglutaminase (tTg), antigliadin antibodies, anitendomysium antibodies, and I can't think of the other one right now that is in the standard panel. I'm not sure what the fifth one would be either, unless it is IgA.

Again, you want to know which anitbodies reacted. Saying IgG is too general. Lots of things can make IgG react. As a comparative, it would be like saying my IgE reacted. (IgE is the true allergy reaction like hives, itching, or anaphylaxis). What you really want to know about IgE is what food triggered it. So, with IgG you want to know which antibodies are causing the IgG to react.

[Laura--G]

Just got the numbers from our doctor. His IgG was 24, she said positive was 9. His tTG was only a 2.

[ebrbetty]

this is what I read online when I got my tests back

Testing for Coeliac.

while an intestinal biopsy is the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing celiac disease, there are now blood tests available to screen for celiac disease.

Testing is simple and involves either screening a pin-prick of blood for Anti-gliadin (AGA) or tTG-IgA Antibodies.

Transglutaminase IgA test (tTG-IgA)

This is a new immunological marker for the identification of patients with celiac disease. External studies have shown that our Transglutaminase IgA test results show a 99% – 100% correlation with the "gold standard" endomysial antibodies tests. A positive tTG IgA result is compelling evidence of celiac disease, provided the patient is not already on a gluten free diet.

Some Celiac patients suffer from IgA deficiency and in these cases, tTG-IgA will be falsely negative. In such cases, the Anti-gliadin test may prove more useful.

Anti-gliadin test

Gliadin is a major protein found in the gluten fraction of wheat. Gliadin antibodies are found in 95% of coeliac patients, provided the patient is not on a gluten free diet, but they are also present in some other diseases. For this reason both classes of antibodies are measured. The test measures the two key antibodies (IgA & IgG) to gliadin.

[Guest alex j]

Laura,

This is kind of freaky. I have two sons (and a daughter), the older son has type 1 diabetes, was recently diagnosed with celiac through positive blood tests confirmed by biopsy; I had his brother tested and everything was negative except his IgG gliadin which was positive. I came here to ask exactly the same question you did.

Oh, and my oldest son is also allergic to fish, tree nuts, egg and peas/lentils/some beans, and the youngest is allergic to milk (which you're right, doesn't make the diet any easier).

If you find anything useful out please post. I called the GI to ask if I should keep the little one on gluten so we could investigate further. The GI said it's not necessary for the little one to go gluten free, but if I want to then go for it; in either case retest in 6 mos. Of course I won't be able to if he goes gluten free. He's basically gluten free anyway; I'm unsure whether to make him strictly gluten free to in an attempt to resolve his horrible constipation, or push for more testing.

I know with my older son I needed definitive test/biopsy results because he was virtually asymptomatic. (He tested through the roof on TTG; positive on everything else except I think IgG). He was only tested because his endo thought malabsorbtion might have been the culprit with our blood sugar control problems - and even he was surprised it was positive.

I don't have any problem maintaining a gluten free diet for the little one now, with no testing to back it up. Relief of symptoms would certainly be motivation enough. But if it is possible to find out if it is celiac now, I would like to - I know that otherwise we will end up challenging gluten when he is older, and if he has celiac that will not be good for him.

Alex